UNOS Introduces New Implementation Standard for Policy and Bylaw Changes

Those policy and bylaw changes adopted by the OPTN/UNOS Board of Directors at its November 2011 meeting that do not require programming will be implemented on February 1, 2012, as indicated in the Policy Notice that was distributed in December. You may have noticed that this implementation schedule does not follow the standard that has been used in the past. In the future, you can generally expect policy and bylaw changes from:

June Board meetings to be implemented September 1st of that year

November Board meetings to be implemented February 1st of the following year.

UNOS is introducing this new standard to add consistency and simplicity to the implementation of policy and bylaw changes. In addition, members will also have more time to prepare for impending changes. Urgent actions by the Board, modifications with special circumstances, and those policy and bylaw changes that require programming to implement will be exceptions to this standard. In these situations, Policy Notices and System Notices will provide the specifics about implementation.